MP Wilks says cost of living and other relief coming to West Bayers | Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

At a recent public meeting in West Bay, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks outlined what she has been doing for the people of West Bay since her election and what the PACT government has recently done to address some of the public’s concerns. In doing so, Ebanks-Wilks stressed the importance of having a united district and indicated that, by working together, a lot more could be accomplished for all electoral districts than working individually as independent MPs. As such, it was fitting that Ebanks-Wilks was joined on the podium by other West Bay MPs, including McKeeva Bush, Bernie Bush and Andre Ebanks.

United district

Regarding the quest for unity in West Bay, Ebanks-Wilks said that she had spoken to constituents in West Bay who repeatedly spoke about elected officials working together.

They want to feel that, although we have constituencies to hold us the members of parliament accountable to you the constituents, everybody still wants to feel that we are all in the same district together.

Ebanks-Wilks said.

This approach to unity and team work reflects positively on Ebanks-Wilks as it is a mature approach to politics i.e., she is not seeking power for herself but to empower the people around her and, at the same time she is holding herself and her team accountable to members of the public.

Tonight, we’re here to really just show you that although we are all independent candidates, we all ran as independents, we are all here to work together to make West Bay the best it has ever been.

She reassured the audience.

Cost of living

Making West Bay the best it has ever been is a goal that is appropriate at this time too as talks of stagflation and recession threaten global economies and changes in circumstances are now impacting the cost of living locally for everyone.

In explaining the cost of living impacts, Ebanks-Wilks stated that the Ukraine-Russia war was a contributing factor to the higher fuel prices that Cayman was currently seeing. In order to address these higher fuel prices and forecasted increases in utility bills over the summer, Ebanks-Wilks highlighted the agreement between the PACT government and Caribbean Utilities Company to provide a fuel credit for some consumers, a helpful gesture to lessen the impact of increased prices on relevant consumers over the summer period.

In addition to fuel prices, the raising of interest rates by Cayman banks has caused some concern locally. In connection with this, Ebanks-Wilks hinted that updated legislation may be on the way to deal with situations where homeowners face challenges when they default on mortgages due to changes in interest rates.

Finally, Ebanks-Wilks emphasized that, given the combination of challenges, she understood what it must be like for some parents having to look forward to expenses associated with the start of a new school year after the summer. Such expenses, of course, are in the form of school supplies.

In providing a solution to struggling parents, Ebanks-Wilks said:

The West Bay MPs have agreed to provide all of the school supplies for all of the Sir John A Cumber primary school students for the 2022/2023 school year.

Also, for students who are outside of the primary school levels, we’re encouraging you to register with your constituency office for school supplies.

According to Ebanks-Wilks, all the students have to do is to show up to school with their backpacks and the supplies will be provided by the MPs.

Transportation and activity camps

The generous offering by the West Bay MPs was supplemented by an offer for free bus services for vacation Bible school. The aim, as Ebanks-Wilks put it, was to remove some of the burden for parents who would normally have to pick up and drop off their children, often losing time from work in the process.

We have partnered with the churches in West Bay. A lot of them are going to be offering vacation bible school. We are going to be offering bus services.

If you would like to register to have your child picked up on the bus, please come by the constituency office so that we can register you for your child to be dropped off at your homes.

We also recognize that there is a week where there isn’t any vacation bible school in the district.

So, the West Bay Central office has been working with various organisations to host a career themed camp and that is going to be the week of 25th July.

Ebanks-Wilks explained further.

Assistance with the elderly

In relation to a second vulnerable group, Ebanks-Wilks said that help was on the way for elderly persons in West Bay who needed to renew their passports.

Regarding this, Ebanks-Wilks mentioned that she had “partnered with a West Bay photographer” to take photos for the elderly so that they don’t have to leave West Bay just to take a passport photo. This comment from Ebanks-Wilks was met with an applause from the crowd.

Housing

In relation to affordable housing plans in West Bay, Ebanks-Wilks invited Mr Julio Ramos, the manager at the National Housing & Development Trust, to give an update to members of the public.

In his update, Ramos shared that the third phase of 19 houses is currently being completed in Boatswain Bay. While Ramos said that the government wanted to deliver the houses at “an affordable rate,” there were some challenges because they had close to 300 applications for affordable homes, but with only a fraction coming online.

Ramos tried to provide some reassurance to the audience in terms of affordable home availability by saying that the possibility of further land purchases were being considered in order to provide affordable homes on other properties for the persons who were not successful in the recent phases of building affordable homes in West Bay.

Ramos indicated that he was not only thinking of new homeowners, but the owners of affordable homes built almost two decades ago, which were now believed to be “condemned” and solutions were needed for those homeowners as well.

Roads

In terms of road works, Ebanks-Wilks indicated her gratitude to the Minister for Infrastructure and the National Roads Authority for assisting with public roads in West Bay. She indicated that, not only did the new road works benefit that particular area, but benefited the whole of West Bay.

NewsAmericasNow.com